In 1931, Catholic priest John Willitzer (1874-1946) established a pottery factory in Pittsville, Wisconsin in order to provide work for local residents during the Depression. The Wisconsin Ceramic Corporation, which produced tiles and flowerpots from local red earthenware clay, struggled to stay in business and shut its doors in 1936. In 1938, the pottery reopened under the direction of James Wilkins, a potter from Bristol, England who served as foreman of the art pottery department at Indiana's Muncie Clay Products from 1923-1938 and his son William Wilkins, a ceramic technician. Production during this period centered on art pottery and promotional novelties for local businesses and included many of the glazes and shapes James Wilkins first developed for the Muncie pottery. This work is one of more than 170 examples donated to the Pittsville Area Historical Society by Ed Arnold (1930-2008), a Pittsville native and avid collector of Pittsville Pottery.